BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra will contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Puri seat in Odisha. This is the second time Mr Patra has been handed a ticket from the constituency. In 2019, he lost the seat to Biju Janata Dal's Pinaki Misra.
Here are five points about Sambit Patra:
1. Sambit Patra was born on December 13, 1974. He completed his schooling at Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Puri and later pursued his medical studies at Veer Surendra Sai Medical College in Odisha's Burla. After his MBBS, Mr Patra also completed a Master of Surgery from SCB Medical College, Cuttack.
2. Much before he became a familiar TV face, Sambit Patra practised medicine at the Hindu Rao Hospital in Delhi. He would often attend BJP meetings in the Chandni Chowk and Malkaganj areas. This allowed him to build ties with Delhi BJP leaders like Vijay Goel and Harsh Vardhan.
3. In 2011, Mr Patra became the spokesperson of the Delhi BJP and a year later contested the municipal council elections from the Kashmere Gate ward. Although he lost the polls, he managed to catch the attention of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who promoted him to the post of the national spokesperson.
4. Mr Patra was appointed as a non-official director on the board of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd in 2017. In 2021, he was also appointed as the chairman of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
5. In 2019, Sambit Patra made his Lok Sabha electoral debut from his home state Odisha. He was fielded from the Puri but lost to the sitting BJD MP Pinaki Misra by over 11,000 votes.